The link takes you to a thread that has the data of mouth gape sizes for largemouth bass (LMB) that have been measured by PB Forum members.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=406060&page=1Here is a link from Greg Grimes (Aquatic Environmental Services) an expert in growing trophy largemouth bass for lessons of what it takes to grow trophy bass for a new pond/lake stocking. Proper planning and management are a very important factors weather you are growing trophy fish or prize livestock.
http://lakework.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/sdafs-trophy-lmb.pdfTrophy Bass in Small Ponds
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=425621#Post425621Trophy LM bass of 8 to 10 lbs or bigger in a 3ac to 4 ac ?
As you will later read in this link the pond for TRUE trophy bass work best in at least 10 acres of water. The smaller the pond the harder it becomes to have a true trophy bass fishery. This if due to several important reasons.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=486473#Post486473Example of growing bigger LM bass in one acre pond.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=476342#Post476342Growing big bass in small ponds. What does it require?? Can you use crappie to do it?
Plus calculating the dollar value $$$$ of large bass. They are valuable
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=433439#Post433439Proper Handing of Large Bass to Prevent Jaw Damage
Keep in mind that as these bass get larger you should not hold them solely by the jaw because the full weight can disjoint the cartilage or damage the mandible hinges of the jaw esp for 10lb + bass. A big bass with a damaged jaw can affect the ability to eat enough big size food to stay healthy. No use injuring are killing your biggest bass. Improper handling can result in premature death of the numbers of your bigger bass per acre. Dead big bass often do not FLOAT when they die.
Previous discussions of correct way to handle large bass
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=402580Examples of Bad Handling
http://www.laperlaranchresort.com/fishing1.htmlExamples of correctly holding big bass to reduce damaged jaw problems
http://bigbluegill.com/forum/topics/correct-way-to-hold-larger-bass?commentId=2036984%3AComment%3A589403&xg_source=activity
Bob Lusk Says About Handling Trophy Fish.
Do Not, under any circumstances, hold a true trophy bass by its lower jaw without supporting its body with your other hand under the rear part of its stomach. By no means, with any bass of any size, ever pull back on the jaw of your fish, as it can become quickly fractured or dislocated. That's usually a death sentence to a big fish. If you don't believe me, ask those who run the ShareLunker program at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Several great specimens were donated to that program last year to spawn and help stock public lakes around the state. But, those gorgeous girls didn't get past angler handling to do what they could do to help many other lakes. They died from bad handling.
From:
https://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/hold-a-fish.htmlGape study
Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 120:500-508, 1991
� Copyright by the American Fisheries Society 1991
Experimental Analysis of Prey Selection by Largemouth Bass:
Role of Predator Mouth Width and Prey Body Depth
K. DAVID HAMBRIGHT
Section of Ecology and Systematic and the Ecosystems Research Center Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
Abstract.�Piscivorous fish are size-selective predators. Although sizes of prey selectively ingested by piscivores traditionally have been measured in terms of prey length relative to predator length, the relationship between prey body depth (measured dorsoventrally) and piscivore mouth gape may be a more appropriate measure of prey size selection. In 2-d feeding trials with three sizes of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, I offered various sizes of shallow-bodied fathead minnows Pimephales promelas and deep-bodied pumpkinseeds Lepomis gibbosus in assemblages of one or both species.
All sizes of predators preferred pumpkinseeds with body depths well below the maximum size ingestible. Small predators also preferred fathead minnows with body depths below the maximum size ingestible, whereas intermediate and large predators selectively ingested the largest fathead minnows offered. Largemouth bass never ingested prey of body depth greater than their own external mouth width. Although lengths of selectively ingested fathead minnows and pumpkinseeds differed, largemouth bass showed highest preferences for prey of similar body depths regardless of taxonomic identity. These results suggest that, in addition to setting constraints on maximum sizes of prey that can be ingested by piscivores, the relationship between prey body depth and piscivore mouth gape may also be important in selection of prey within the range of ingestible sizes.
Therefore, body depth may be more useful than the traditional measure of prey length as a common measure for examining prey selection by gape-limited piscivores over a wide array of prey species.Piscivorous fish are gape-limited predators,consuming only prey they can swallow whole. Because prey are generally swallowed head- or tailfirst, their body depth (measured dorsoventrally) relative to the size of a piscivore's mouth determines whether they can be ingested (Swingle 195Q; Lawrence 1958; Werner 1977; Tonn and Paszkowski 1986). Thus, in any particular habitat prey with boidy depths greater than the largest piscivore gape are invulnerable to ingestion. The vulnerability of prey within the range of ingestible sizes is determined by other factors such as size distributions
of piscivores and prey, prey encounter rates with piscivores, and predator-avoidance behaviors of prey (Wahl and Stein 1988; Hambright etal., in press).
Prey-selection behavior of piscivores also influences the vulnerability of prey. Optimal foraging theory postulates that predators maximize the ratio between the benefits gained and the costs incurred in obtaining prey. Obviously, the benefits gained increase as a function of prey size, but cost, in particular that due to handling time, also increases rapidly with prey size (Werner 1974). Hoyle and Keast (1987,1988) demonstrated that, for two
piscivores (largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides and grass pickerel Esox americanus), the weight-adjusted handling time for prey of equivalent lengths varied.
TABLE 3.�Predicted and actual maximum body depths (standard lengths in parentheses) of fathead minnows and pumpkinseeds ingested by small, intermediate, and large largemouth bass. Predicted values are based on the mean external mouth widths of the predators. Prey standard lengths were calculated with equations (1) and (2) in
the text by substituting the mean predator mouth width for prey body depth. Asterisks indicate prey sizes exceeded the naturally occurring size ranges listed in Carlander (1969, 1977).
Largemouth bass group
Small Intermediate Large
Mean external
mouth width
(mm)
14.6
25.6
34.2
Maximum size of
fathead minnow (mm)
Predicted
14.6
(59.8)
25.6
(99.2*)
34.2
(130.0*)
Ingested
13.3
(55)
13.3
(55)
13.3
(55)
Maximum size of pumpkinseed (mm)
Predicted
14.6
(39.6)
25.6
(62.3)
34.2
(80.9)
Ingested
13.0
(35)
22.2
(55)
31.5
(75)
